Sex abuse study cites Rader

25 percent of juveniles surveyed in detention center said they had been sexually victimized

BY JULIE BISBEE

January 8, 2010

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SAND SPRINGS — The state’s maximum-security juvenile facility is one of 13 juvenile centers across the country with the highest rates of sexual abuse and victimization, according to a federal report.

A Justice Department study released Thursday found that 25 percent of youth surveyed at L.E. Rader Center in Sand Springs said they had experienced some type of sexual victimization, which could include contact with another person’s genitals, intercourse or any sexual acts with a staff member.

The survey also showed that 16.7 percent of the youth at the Central Oklahoma Juvenile Center in Tecumseh said they had been sexually victimized.

The national average is 12 percent, the study said.

Gene Christian, executive director of the Office of Juvenile Affairs, said changes already were being made to protect juveniles, including shutting down cottages at the Rader Center.

"Even one (assault) is too many,” Christian said. "We anticipated these numbers, and that’s the reason we’re starting to close some of the cottages at Rader and getting the population down there.”

By July, the agency expects to reduce its population at Rader to about 60 juveniles. Only the maximum-security unit and a unit for juvenile sex offenders will remain open, he said.

The design of the units at the Rader center makes it difficult to monitor juveniles, as well as staff, Christian said. The cottages are older with blind spots in sleeping areas and at the entrances of bathrooms, he said.

"Are there problems? Yes there are problems,” Christian said. "If there are blind spots for the youth, there are blind spots for the staff. If it’s hard to monitor the juveniles, it’s going to be hard to monitor staff.”

The majority of assaults reported by juveniles at facilities in Oklahoma were with staff, according to the survey conducted by Westat, a Maryland-based company working for the government. The survey also showed that assaults nationwide occurred most frequently with female staff members.

The youth were given an anonymous computerized survey between June 2008 and April 2009. At Rader, 51 youth participated in the survey.

Christian said the numbers are disturbing, but he questioned the survey’s methods.

"I think it probably gives a higher indication than what is true,” he said. "These allegations aren’t substantiated. We’re not protesting the numbers, but we are concerned about the sampling method.”

Christian said the agency investigates allegations and in some cases the investigation ends in criminal charges. He said staff members have been prosecuted in the past year for inappropriate contact with juveniles. He did not have an exact number. Last session, the Legislature passed a bill that allows the department to hire two criminal investigators to check out such allegations.

In 2006, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit against the state alleging that youth at Rader were not adequately protected from staff or other youth. As a result of a consent decree in the federal lawsuit, structural changes were made at some of the cottages and policies were put in place in hopes of preventing youth-on-youth assaults and staff assaults.

Federal monitors in 2008 said conditions at the facility had improved. Improvements at the facility have been ongoing. Budget cuts to the agency this year, however, have stalled construction projects there and forced officials to shut down cottages that did not meet standards, Christian said.

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